, 1887-03-20

machines. Ho used TO spend much time with
the family clock, greatly to tho dismay of his
mother, no doubt, and when he was IL he
could pull n patent lever watch in pieces,
clean and repair it, with all the skill of an ex-
perienced jeweler.
When he was 10 years of age his father
met with financial reverses and the boy was
forced to cav school and prepare to win his
bread and his way in life by his naide
efforts. That same year 1888 the family
went to st. Louis. The steamer in which
they Travelled burned in the night during the
trip, and young Eads landed in st. Louis
without coat or shoes on the very spot now
covered by the abutments OF the great steel
bridge which he many years afterward de
signed and put up.
Selling apples on the streets was the way
he took to make a living, for no other occu-
patton presented itself for a long time, and in
this way he not only supported himself but
contributed considerably to the maintenance
OF his mother and sisters. After n while he
built n diving bell boat for the purpose of re-
covering the cargoes Of sunken steamers, and
later n mpa was formed and soon its
business extended over the entire river, from
Balizc to Galena, and branched out into some
Of its tributaries.
The following very characteristic anecdote
of Capt. Eads Is taken from an admirable
sketch OF his life published about a year ago
in The Popular Science Monthly:
"His first undertakings in the peculiar and
instructive study of hydraulics occurred while
he was constructing the first diving bell boat,
not then completed. A barge loaded with
about u hundred tons of pig lead was sunk
upon the rapids of the Mississippi river, near
Keokul, in fifteen feet of water. A contract
was made for the recovery Of this lead. Ho
had had no experience whatever with the
submarine armor or diving apparatus of any
kind; but, engaging n diver from the lakes
who was familiar with it, with an armor,
an mir pump and a sailor skillful in
the use of rigging, he started-at that
time only % years of age-to the scene of the
wreck. Obtaining a barge, this was promptly
anchored over it and preparations made for
the diver to go to work; but the current was
found so exceedingly rapid that it was i'm
possible to use the armor with any safety. A
belt around the divers waist was attached by
n cord to the bow of the boat to hold him
against the current. and n ladder procured
OH which the diver undertook to descend, but
it was impossible for him to control his body
i'll the current. Determined not to be bafled,
Mr.. Eads Immediately visited the town of
Keokuk and purchased u forty gallon whisky
barrel with which TO improvise q diving bell.
With several pigs OF lead secured around one
end of the barrel by n network of ropes, and
with that head taken out, a block and tackle
attached to the network at the other end and
a temporary derrick erected, he was soon pre-
pared to the recovery of the cargo.
But the diver demurred and would not de-
scend in this dangerous looking apparatus.
Mr.. Eads then set an example which he has
followed throughout all his varied experience
as an engineer, which was never to
ask Il man in his employ to go where he was
unwilling to trust his own life. Tho bell thus
suspended was held against the current by u
rope which led up to the bow OF the barge,
and IA strap across the lower end of the barrel
was used as the seat for the diver in it.
He at once got into the diving bell and or
dcred his men to lower him down.. He had n
trace chain attached to a lead line, the lower
end Of the trace chain having a ring in it, and
with this he was readily enabled to form a
loop, which was placed over one of the pigs
OF lead, and Mt n given signal 1t was hoisted
up. A small cord suficed to draw 1t back to
him while he was still in .hs bell; and in this
manner a number OF pigs weighing seventy
pounds each were recovered before he started
TO come uD-the mir pump all the time supply
ing him with air. But in the mean time,
having cleared the space beneath the bell, the
guy line moved 1t farther and farther up
stream in compliance with his signals, and
instead Of the line being Stacked out
again when his men commenced raising the
bell, it was held SO far forward that tho der
rick capsized, having no guy to hold it in the
opposite direction. His assistants seized the
block and tackle and pulled the whisky barre
up to tho surface of the water by hand. But
1t was so weighted with the lead around il
that they could not raise 1t higher. Not know.
ing what was the matter, he waited patiently,
the air pump running with redoubled velocity
supplying him with plenty Of air. He soon
saw the fingers Of a man u1def the chime OF
the barrel, and, r~ecognizip tbis as an invi'
tation, he seized the mans ianA and got oui
from under the barrel, much to the delight Of
all on board. The derrick was then secured
against any possible catastrophe occurring
again, and, after q number OF successful trips
20 the bottom, the diver was content to dc
the remainder OF the work.
or his Mississippi river improvements. his
achievements building gunboats on short no
tice during the war, the building of the great
bridge over the Father of Waters at St.
Louis, and his ship railway scheme, which is
still undeveloped, besides other great en-
cheering feats, the reading world is already
well informed. 1t Is now thought that the
ship railway scheme will fall through. He
leaves a wife and daughter.
On an average $1,000 books a year are